Fluffing in stealth for a towering red-skinned Tiefling

[Spore]

Greetings playground,

my character has seen the need for stealth in recent gaming experience and he would love to stealth. Ruleswise, all doors stand WIDE open. It's a 7th level Investigator (refluffed bombless Alchemist) with 14 Dex, so he can be quite sneaky.

Problem is: From a fluff standpoint, he is a 6'10" (2,10m for metric users) red giant (Oni Spawn Tiefling). Having him be suddenly able to sneak okayish feels hamfisted (also because he is very clumsy in that department until now). I have already thought about a permanent alchemical accident which bleaches his red skin to be a lot more subtly colored (to the point where the stealth bonus is fluffed as some sort of chameleon color) but I am open to your suggestions.

The character could possibly jump up from +2 (zero ranks) to +13 (8 ranks) in a matter of weeks. Another thing I could do is not use stealth up until I can upgrade my Int headband in order to give me Stealth (meaning it would provide the illusionary magic to do so).

[Psyren]

Does that specify the shade of red anywhere? It's not like you have to go around glowing scarlet, he could be a dusky burgundy or something instead.

Unless you're actually Large, the height is meaningless in crunch terms, he would stealth exactly as well as somebody who is a foot shorter with the same ranks.

If you really want to justify it, just learn the Blend 1st-level extract that lasts 10 min./lvl (along with following the ACG text that allows non-elves to use it) and quaff one whenever you need to stealth. Not only will that allow you to chameleon your skin color as needed, you also get a bonus to your check in many situations, as well as minor HiPS.

[avr]

For the skin colour? The easy answer is to cover up. Maybe a big grey hooded cloak, maybe full ninja gear.

For the size; the silhouette of a tall guy isn't actually much bigger than an ordinary person. It feels a lot bigger when you're standing next to them but that's not a stealth issue. As far as sound goes he will have to work harder than an ordinary person, true; maybe he just does, with more effort put into silencing all the gear on his person, placing his feat more carefully, etc.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Oni-blooded, right? Being in disguise is kind their whole thing.

[grarrrg]

Having him be suddenly able to sneak okayish feels hamfisted

No, no, it's all good.
For the past 5 months you have secretly been training with an ultimate ninja stealth master.
What? You didn't notice him?

:smalltongue:

[Spore]

Oni-blooded, right? Being in disguise is kind their whole thing.

Yeah, well, I ditched the Alter Self SLA for Maw and Claw. Especially because it fitted my background fluff and I gain the spell as extract anyhow. Point is I want a fluff solution, not using up ressources (other than skill points) to actually get a bit of sneaking in.


Does that specify the shade of red anywhere? It's not like you have to go around glowing scarlet, he could be a dusky burgundy or something instead.

Not necessarily but I've used a screenshot from a cutscene of Shadow Warrior for the character portrait:

http://i.imgur.com/IRO1DaQ.jpg

So the color is kind of locked in. Of course skin color is easily refluffed as n Alchemist. The character turns blue when under the influence of his Mutagen anyhow.

[Honest Tiefling]

Not trying to be a jerk, but what prevents you from just...Editing that picture? Has the party or any NPCs really noticed or made a fuss of his color?

I will second the idea of a disguise. He's got alchemy and extracts if I understand correctly, so why not play up that side of him? Personally, I think being able to change his skin at will between different shades of red would be flavorful, but probably not too powerful unless everything in the setting is red. (If it is Asian themed, I guess that could be a problem...)

The Alchemical accident might also affect his mind. Does anyone else in the party sneak? Ask them, IC, if they can attempt a complicated experiment upon them. You learn Stealth from them with the alchemical experiment, but 1) You lack the ingredient to replicate the effects or 2) You successfully do so, but accidentally mess it up. Ask the DM for an interesting 'curse' to use as a side effect of the experiment. Could even be that your skin color is no longer under your control, and starts to randomly change colors, especially when the character is emotional. So if others notice he's flashing pink and blue when they ask him a question, they might get a bonus to Sense Motive against his bluff for instance. After a while, the character finally learns how to control this, giving them the IC reason for the stealth boost. This could even be the result of a completely different experiment.

As for the height, RP looking for ways around that, or try to ambush, not sneak. I'd imagine size matters less when standing still and when you got time to prepare.

[MyrPsychologist]

Just because you're big doesn't mean you aren't good on your feet and know how to move quietly and without being seen. I've known plenty of athletes that were about as close as you can get to being a giant in real life but because of things like ballet training they are really nimble and sneaky as heck. Then there's me. I'm 5 foot tall, clumsy and you can always hear me like a mile away.

You shouldn't HAVE to explain it a lot.

[Hrugner]

I think your answer is somewhere between contortionist and limbo master. That said, your size will reflect in your comparative inability to find cover which will make even using that stealth skill less possible.

[Keltest]

For the skin colour? The easy answer is to cover up. Maybe a big grey hooded cloak, maybe full ninja gear.

I think this is the solution. It doesn't matter if he flashes neon lights to the sky while naked if he can turn that off by putting on a black shirt and a hood.

As for the size, that wouldn't affect him as much. unless he is trying to use the shaft of a lance as cover or something, he is going to be about as good at being stealthy as someone Halfling sized with similar dexterity.

[Urpriest]

How is this any different from any other situation in which you gain a new skill?

Your character isn't good at stealth now, but as you gain power you get more skilled at movement. You become more predatory, and lighter on your feet, until you can sneak up behind someone without them hearing a sound.

That kind of thing is all you need. Just "and then he got better at stealth".

[Ettina]

Tigers are bright orange - doesn't stop them from being stealthy.

[Spore]

That said, your size will reflect in your comparative inability to find cover which will make even using that stealth skill less possible.

That's a fair point. I guess the Reduce Person extract will find a lot of work (besides providing +5 on stealth). :)

[Psyren]

That's a fair point. I guess the Reduce Person extract will find a lot of work (besides providing +5 on stealth). :)

Not without houserules - Tieflings are outsiders, so Reduce Person won't affect them.

[Spore]

Not without houserules - Tieflings are outsiders, so Reduce Person won't affect them.

That houserule is already in play. I should've told you.

[Cirrylius]

Don't bother adjusting active Stealth rolls, just give him a penalty to being tracked via a tail or Gather Information in circumstances where you think it's warranted.

[Spore]

Don't bother adjusting active Stealth rolls, just give him a penalty to being tracked via a tail or Gather Information in circumstances where you think it's warranted.

I'm the player. Surprisingly player can think about fluff too! Shocking, isn't it. Also he has no tail since Oni have no tails.

[Psyren]

I'm the player. Surprisingly player can think about fluff too! Shocking, isn't it. Also he has no tail since Oni have no tails.

Players can overthink fluff just as easily though :smalltongue:

If you truly insist there should be a penalty/incongruence of some kind, use your extracts to overcome it, otherwise you should be fine.

[Spore]

I don't insist on a penalty but want flavorful explanations onto why the character is stealthy now. And I think I have enough options now.

[ShurikVch]

Camo skin paint?

[Elricaltovilla]

1) Cover Up. You should be wearing clothes anyway. Add a cowl and maybe a dust rag across your face you should be good to go.
2) You were experimenting with alchemical substances and discovered a way to deaden sound, maybe a new type of oil for your armor and buckles, some new type of rubber or sole for your shoes.
3) Study and careful observation of sneakier allies. You studied them and now you're ready to put what you learned into practice.

4) Nobody gives a crap, it's part of the way the game works?:smalltongue:

[Kraken]

Just say that you learned to stop walking flat footed, and now smoothly move from heel to ball with each step.

[Honest Tiefling]

I do have to wonder, is the tiefling really going to be that off put by their size? I mean, he's sorta the same size as a tiger if one put the tiger vertical. Could the mutagen be refluffed (Especially the dex one) to make the form more bestial and low to the ground, explaining the dex boost?

http://i1369.photobucket.com/albums/ag202/temminkii/Tiger-Iris-with-charming-cub_zpsekqy6h0g.jpg

[Spore]

Camo paint, more subtle clothing choices and some quasi-ninja tricks will be put on. :) Now to look for an Oni Ninja picture that is not as ridiculous as these ones:

http://cdn0.dailydot.com/cache/83/d1/83d194b955959dbbd2b946df18f6fa66.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/MZhDjMo.jpg

Yes I am aware that these are ogres.

Okay, thanks for talking some sense into me. Apparently it is not that uncommon:

http://media.wizards.com/images/magic/daily/sf/sf196_3mxijz8t5n.jpg

[Shalist]

Tall, red sneaky dude with a decent bonus to jumping? Doesn't sound that far-fetched to me.

http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/11/113883/3777972-1064024915-darth.jpg

[Spore]

Tall, red sneaky dude with a decent bonus to jumping? Doesn't sound that far-fetched to me.

Darth Maul before his duel with Qui Gon is 1,75. Also the thread is about Stealth, not Jump/Acrobatics.